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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 What is a Mystery?
Chapter 2 The Mystery of God
Chapter 3 The Mystery of Life
Chapter 4 The Mystery of Matter
Chapter 5 The Mystery of Suffering
Chapter 6 The Mystery of Old Age
Chapter 7 The Mystery of Death
Chapter 8 The Mystery of Healing
Chapter 9 The Mystery of Wrong Habits
Chapter 10 The Mystery of Human Characteristics
Chapter 11 The Mystery of Human Relationships
Chapter 12 The Mystery of Thought Transference
Chapter 13 The Mystery of Power
Chapter 14 The Mystery of Prayer
Chapter 15 The Mystery of Success
Chapter 16 The Mystery of Individual Unfoldment
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What is a Mystery?
Down through the ages men have been accustomed to call that which to them was
unknown, unexplained, or uncomprehended--a mystery. There has been a tendency to
wrap veils of mystery around natural phenomena, also around the causes of daily
experience in the lives of men, and even around God. That which is in any particularout of what we have called the usual and the commonplace has aroused a sense of the
supernatural or the mysterious in relation to it. Mankind has relegated much to the
realm of the mysterious which is explainable under the light that true thinking throws
upon the experiences. There rises the question, why is this? Long, long ago, in the
childhood of the race, before men thought intelligently about life and living, they felt
within themselves an impelling urge for Something higher than their daily
experiences. They naturally looked to that which was above them, and found it
beyond their power to understand. So it came about that while these primitive men
were still a great way off, the greater experiences of life looked weird and
incomprehesible to them. They were thinking in terms of separation; hence all greater
experiences were mysterious to them.
It has been our custom to meditate upon those experiences which touch us as
individuals most closely. Hence we hear the world asking, "What is the reason for
illness, evil, poverty, old age, death?" There is an answer in Divine Science to many
as yet unanswered questions. With the omnipresence of God as our basic principle, we
Divine Scientists feel that we are speaking with authority. We shall endeavor to
answer all questions from the point of view of omnipresent good.
Much of the thinking of the race has been negative. Men have seen evil, sickness,
poverty, suffering, decrepitude, in human experience; and judging from appearances
they have been unwilling to accept a philosophy that proclaims God as all, visible and
invisible. "God must be the invisible power, but he must remain in the unseen, for if
he is in the visible, how can you account for the wrongs of the world?" is the question
that we hear repeated so often. Men have said for ages, "This is a mystery." They have
accordingly continued to visualize places and conditions where God is not.
Do the appearances of inharmony that men call sickness, poverty, evil, and death,
deny the principle of Omnipresence? From which side are you thinking--the inner or
the outer? To many the outer is more real than the inner; to such I can only say,
"Detach your thought from that which is without and fasten it to that which is within."
We have lived in the external for so long that it seems much more real to many of us
than the internal or eternal. We have lived with our eyes fixed upon phenomena, and
now we are beginning to look through the phenomenon to find the cause. Detached
thinking has done much to lead us farther and farther from reality. We have seen the
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manifestation--matter--apart from its source. Now we are seeing that cause and effect
are one.
There is nothing hidden from him who knows God and God in action as all there is.
There is mystery from the point of view of the wonder of it all; but there is nothing
inexplainable to the one who is willing to see from the standpoint of unity that theUniverse is one. The nature of God is wholeness--holiness. He filleth all with His holy
presence; and there is no truth in anything that is unlike God--in anything that seems
to limit us. The Father is infinite Spirit; we live in Spirit; we abide in its abundance.
The one who sees the holiness of wholeness knows that in the presence of God is
fulness of life.
We wonder at the greatness of solar systems; but from the solar system to the grain of
sand, there is nothing mysterious to him who sees the meaning of Omnipresence. The
grain of sand is a thought of God and so is the solar system; the process that we call
life is God in action. Men plant a seed; it takes root, and sprouts; it springs intogrowth, a living organism. This process of unfoldment is God-Activity in
manifestation. The process is perfect, for all that is of God is perfect. Perfection is the
nature of the Omnipresent One.
I shall deal in this series with the so-called mysteries of God, life, suffering, old age,
death, healing, wrong habits, human characteristics, human relationships, thought
transference, power, prayer, success and individual unfoldment.
I hope to show you that there is an answer to all questions in the light that the concept
of Omnipresence throws upon life. From my angle of vision I see the Universe asOne; and I stand in the center of this unified Universe, looking out and saying, "All is
good--God." The universe of form is the living presence of God. Law is God in
action. There is no chance. The Divine Purpose is expressing as infinite love. We,
children of one Father, are sharers in the divine intent; we are working not for divine
purpose, but with it.
Thinking true to the presence of God enlarges our vision; it is our ignorance and
unwillingness to see truly that holds us out of participation in the glories that open to
the one who is faithful in his practice of the Presence. We are troubled about things
just so long as we do not see that all life is related. It is ignorance that keeps us in bondage; it is truth that makes us free. Let us cease walking on the shadow side of the
path, on the path of human opinions, superstitions, and fears; for in God-
Consciousness, the consciousness of wholeness is fulness of light.
If I take my stand in the presence of infinite Love and Power--that Presence--besides
which there is no other, I shall solve every mystery. A mystery is a shadowy place in
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our thought; but in the consciousness of God there are no shadows. There is only
light. When I take my stand in Omnipresence, I know that the thought which I think
and the good works which I am able to do, are not mine, but His that sent me. God is
thinking and expressing through His children. Light is our heritage. There is no
darkness at all. Shall sons of God delude themselves into thinking that they live in
shadowy places? As long as we do this, we shall be held in the bondage of thisunreality and that unreality--this mystery and that mystery. Sons of God are able, if
they will, to solve by their thinking and their living those problems and mysteries
which have seemed impossible of solution. There is, let me repeat, nothing unknown
to the one who knows God. There is nothing incomprehensible to the man who
understands the infinitude of the love and power of God. All phenomena are
explainable by law--God in action. Where, then, is the mystery?
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The Mystery of God
Men have long believed that they could not know God, and that what the eye of the
senses could not behold was an insolvable mystery. Their concept of God was that of
an almighty ruler governing the universe invisibly and mysteriously; God had created
the world ages ago, and after creation was complete, had departed out of the world,never to be seen of the children of men. He had, however, created the first man and
the first woman, before he disappeared from earth to abide far off in the heavens.
Hence arose the mystery about God.
When we were children many of us worshiped a different God from the one we are
worshiping today. The change is not in God, but in our conception of God. Men
conceived a God hidden from his subjects, ruling arbitrarily, and visiting the sins of
the fathers upon the children from generation to generation.
The conception of God is changing from this limited belief into the vision of analmighty, loving Father including His world. We are conceiving of God as infinite
Life, Love, Intelligence, Power, Joy, bringing forth His Universe by law. Natural
science, modern ethics, true religion, emphasize law as the principle of the Universe
upon which all life rests. Law is the unchanging method by which God is expressing;
it is always true to Divine Being. Law is the basis upon which truth rests. It is the
assurance that God is expressing; law is our assurance of good. Our lives, then, are
based upon the certainty of the unfailing principle of omnipresent good.
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." We find that it iscomparatively easy for the thought of the twentieth century to understand the concept
of the infinitude of God. The infinite universe of form is God in action. God is infinite
changeless abundance. The Universe abounds not only in infinite love and power, but
in those things needed every day from the greatest unto the least, from the most
important to the seemingly least significant. We are awaking to the immediacy of God
also. This infinite nearness of God is more difficult of comprehension, however. We
can see God in measureless distances and mighty systems, but to see God in the tiny
flower and to come to recognize that there is no point in space or on earth where God
is not, is more difficult. The concept of the immediacy of God reveals to us that God
is in the smallest details of daily living, as well as in the greatest events of the
progress of man.
Natural science is marching hand in hand with modern religious conception; one, it is
true, uses scientific expression; the other, religious expression. There is, however,
small import in terms; according to both conceptions there is one substance. We
Divine Scientists spell Substance with a capital; for to us the universe is Substance,
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and Substance in action. Astronomy shows us that God is responsible not only for the
forming, but for the revolution of the planet in its orbit. Chemistry and physics reveal
a reign of law, also; biology stands for integrity of expression. Let us not fall short in
our thinking; let us keep steadfast, and each hour will show us more of God in action
on every hand. The most vivid of life’s experiences is found in the consciousness of
the omnipresence of God--love, power, abundance, integrity. To know that the breathof life is the breath of God, that the loving word and deed are God in action, that your
strength and my strength are limitless in God, that our gifts and our joys are God’s
intent for us, that every right thought and every corresponding action of ours are
approved of God, is the greatest of experiences.
The God of integrity is the God of love. God is love, means that God is in action; and
God in action is law as well as love. In the light of the unfolding concept of God as
love and integrity, we see that all law is beneficent. The God of love knows no
unforgiveness. Jesus, through whom we see the Father working, showed in his living
and in his teaching what it means to love perfectly; he showed us how to forgive.
Jesus taught that the quality of our love for the Father is shown forth in the way we
love our fellow men.
Recall the words of the wise in the hours of stress and in times of meditation:
"Behold, do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" Whither, then, shall we flee
from Spirit? We are always in the presence of God. It is true, our ideal is so great that
our shortcomings stand out in vivid contrast--a contrast which causes us to lose heart
at times, and think that we have wandered far from Spirit and truth. This, however, is
not true. We are in the presence of God, even though we know it not. Our failings are
evidence of separation in our thinking only. It is in the hard experiences, and at times
of discouragement, that we should be able to use what we know of truth in order to
discern between the true and the false, and to see that God does fill heaven and earth,
with His presence, His life, and His abundance. Let us train our thought to realize the
immediacy of God, and also to think out with understanding faith into the great
expanse of universality. We see God as He is when we learn to see wholeness instead
of separation. Might it not be, that we shall come to know the Father as He knows
himself, when our vision grows more nearly complete? Then shall we know the
fulness that filleth all.
Let us bring God as near as we can get Him. When we do this we shall see reality
instead of appearance. When there is something unsightly in that which we see before
us, what should be our reaction? So often the seeming defect is all that we see. Our
first impulse is to think that God is not there. Why not look through the unsightliness?
It is only our concept of the experience--our misconception. True insight proves to us
that what we are seeing imperfectly, God is seeing perfectly. The one Creator is
bringing forth perfectly.
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We are worshiping today a perfect God. Let us keep true to the ideal of perfection in
every experience as well as in every thought. It is necessary to see perfection in
process and in form, and not to weaken when we see imperfection, for there is no truth
in it. Always ask yourself this question, "Is the difficulty in the condition, or is it in
my seeing?" The answer will come immediately, if you have kept your attitude true. "I
am looking upon that which is by nature perfect." It is our responsibility to keep ourvision true to what we know. What is the reaction then of God to His world? He is His
world; He includes it; He is expressing as His world. The true vision reveals God-Life
everywhere.
I look upon the desk in my study. It has served me well. I touch it; my senses, true to
the old conception of form, report in a certain way. I was trained to see my desk as
something entirely different in substance from myself, and to think of matter and
Spirit as separate and distinct. From this point of view I have called my desk lifeless.
It has always seemed to resist my touch; hence I have called it hard--a solid. I look at
the desk, and I see with these two eyes an unbeautiful mass, dull, lifeless, static; I say
to you, "This is inanimate matter." In the old way of looking at the outer
manifestations there is no connection between this desk and me, a living organism,
except that subject to my will it serves me. Through this kind of thinking the
misconception, duality, arose.
The one who is well informed in recent discoveries in the scientific world says to me
in answer to my recital of these facts concerning my desk, "You do not understand
matter according to the new concept. Nothing that you have said of your desk is true.
The senses can never illumine you, even though the eyes see and the touch feels. The
mentality is bound by statements long worn out. This desk is not a solid, lifeless mass;
it is a center of activity composed of tiny, intelligent, whirling bodies called atoms
held in the form which we call a desk by the law of attraction. Matter is a mode of
motion; all form is living, intelligent activity."
There comes to me new meaning in the words of Jesus, "According to your faith be it
unto you." Then, the proverb, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," flashes
through my thought. Is it not true that as a man believes about the universe of form
and the world of experiences, so is the universe to him; so does he experience? I see
my desk in a new light; I see the blade of grass by the wayside with new
comprehension. Each is a center of motion, of intelligent activity in the great expanse
of universal ether. I no longer perceive deadness but livingness, not matter subject to
decay and death, but living substance radiant with the life-principle of universal
activity. I see Life as God himself in action. The words of natural science are being
heard throughout the land, for scientists are speaking with no uncertain voice, and
these words are being received with wondering approval.
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We are hearing other voices speaking with authority also. Divine Scientists are saying,
"The explanations of natural science accord with our deepest perception of truth. We
see God everywhere. We know the Universe as the One Substance in action. A
universal God must be present in His creation." When we say this, we imply all that
the natural scientist says about creation or form. We like to say, "There is only God
and God in action." God in action is form; God in action is law. God is infinitelyintelligent, and is bringing forth according to His perfect idea. The intelligence of God
is evidenced in the law and order of the universe and is manifested as living forms.
There is no inanimate matter, for matter, according to Divine Science, is Substance in
action. Substance, as we see it, cannot be subject to mishaps and corruption. I like to
quote these words of Jesus, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto me." He saw that
when thought is lifted up in you and in me, we lift all that is around us. As we lift our
thoughts the world around us arises to meet these. All nature and all men are seen in
the light of wholeness as perfect expressions of the infinite Creator. Being is perfect.
We are Being in manifestation. "In thy light shall we see light." In this light shall we
look upon all that God is making, and with God call it good.
How shall we look at God? With the eyes of Spirit! How shall we think of God? As
Universal Expansion; yes, this is easy; but I am making a special plea to all of us to
acknowledge God in all our ways--in all expression; to accustom ourselves to the
concept of the nearness of God, to the immediacy of the Presence of perfection. When
we look at the objects around us, at our bodies, at all nature, let us see to it that the
wrong conception shall not dominate, but that we shall perceive with inner vision only
intelligent, loving, powerful, harmonious activity--God in action. God is all, both
visible and invisible. Let us see as God sees; God sees by the understanding of His
love. He knows reality, and never swerves. He sees you and me as perfect expressions
of His own idea. God sees us as living soul. He sees our bodies as form, His own
Substance in action. Our lives are in God.
The old beliefs are passing; the New Revelation is showing us God in action in every
expression of the universe of form. God is His universe. If we raise our eyes to the
stars we see the light of God shining through; if we watch for the glory of the sunlight
we see God again. Mother Earth and all of her children show us God--Activity
radiating love. Nature is God in action; what about the affairs of men? Is God active
in these, too? God is working out His universal plan in the affairs of men. Are wecooperating? God is not a ruler of men; He is the very life of men. God works by
means of you and me, and of all other people on the earth. Let us be by choice co-
workers in the kingdom. There is neither first nor last here. All men are one.
There are neither mysteries nor miracles in the kingdom of God; there is cause and
effect, which Divine Science thinks of as one. This is the truth of every day. There are
no places where God is not. Our ignorance of the principle of universal love accounts
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for the lack that we sometimes feel. There is only one way; it is the way to life eternal.
The light of truth is ever shining on this path, which leads to reality. The light of truth
shows us that there is one Presence and Power, and that this Presence is the only
Presence, this Spirit, the only Substance; this Mind, the only Intelligence; this Love,
the Universal Nature; this Activity, the only Activity--God.
In God there are no mysteries; there is only light.
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The Mystery of Life
The origin and the process of life have seemed to many the greatest of mysteries.
"What is life, and how can it persist in such a variety and under so many different
conditions?" are common questions. There have been so many problems in the
thought of the race concerning causes and effects that all thinkers have been searchingfor solutions. Much of this research has not afforded us very much light on the
solution of our problems, because students have thought they were dealing with two
powers--matter and Spirit. The concept of an unknown power which is directing the
process of life has given rise to the assertion, "We can take you so far, and no farther."
This assertion is the last word of many scientists, philosophers, and religionists. God
has been thought of through the centuries by students in various phases of human
knowledge as the Great Unknown--hence, the mystery of life!
How are we thinking about the great word Life? Are we taking it in its highest
meaning? The word may be written in two different ways. Divine Science usuallywrites it with a capital letter; popular usage spells the word with a small letter and
thinks of life as meaning everyday existence, the passing show, outer relations and
activities. Out of this conception many questions arise, such as, "Why did this happen
to him? What is the reason for this tragedy? Why are the lives of so many people on
this earth seemingly miserable?"
Divine Science holds out a solution for all problems and an answer to all questions in
a conception which interprets Life as God in action. Life written with a capital stands
for the Activity of God. God is omni-active; and what God is must come forth in His
activity. Since God is good, the activity of the universe of form is good; since God is
love, all activity is loving; since God is power, all activity is powerful for good. God-
Activity is what natural science calls the universal energy. In God-Activity you and I
live, move, and have our Being. As we function in this consciousness of the oneness
of the Universe, we lift the thought of the world around us. "I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all unto me." Jesus' words prove his faith in the power of right thinking.
Since the Presence which we call the I AM is the only Presence and Power, let us lift
ourselves into that consciousness of oneness through our daily living which brings
those around us into the concept of wholeness. Our thinking must be based on the
affirmation, "God is all, both visible and invisible."
We are likely to think of God in the highest and the best that we know, but let us not
fail to see God in the least of the things of Life; there are no high and no low in the
Kingdom of God-Life, and when we think of man in the Absolute, we see that by
nature, he must be Godlike, for is not man the highest expression of an infinite, all-
powerful Creator? Let us apply this concept to ourselves, our families, and our
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friends, as well as to all the world of men; it is our obligation to keep ourselves in the
most positive attitude toward the Divinity of all Life. Each one has the power to attain
to the realm of Divine Consciousness, if we hold true to the vision of our unity with
God.
See truth; stand for truth; affirm truth in your lives step by step. Such statements asthe following show us the Divinity of Life:
God is Life. What God is comes forth in Divine Activity. We live, move, and have our
Being in God-Life. By Divine Power we are alive now. I know that Life is perfect, for
God is All. Man is Living Soul, brought forth perfect in nature. Man is divine,
because he is one with God. Man has the power to realize the truth of Being, and to
accomplish the best in every relation and activity. Consciousness of God is the light of
the world. Why not spell Life with a capital letter? Does not Divinity include all? I am
asked, "How can you say that God is all that is visible, when there is so much
inharmony and imperfection in the visible?" Are you looking with the outer eye of thesenses, or are you seeing with the inner eye of Spirit? It is with the inner eye that we
see truth. Appearances of inharmony are the results of wrong conceptions. When the
inner vision comes, we see that God is the only Creator, and that we live by the power
of His consciousness, and that we are brought forth by the impelling Spirit of His
Love. When you and I see imperfection, it does not mean that in this place God is
working imperfectly. It is we who are seeing imperfection. God’s work is perfect;
man’s conception of it is often imperfect or partial. Imperfect seeing, then, is the
cause of our list of sorrows and evils.
When in the hour of silence or in the time of activity, it is possible for us to free our
mentality from beliefs of limitation, and the soul, standing conscious of its oneness
with God, looks out upon the universe with the God-Vision, it realizes truth. We see
that the temporal experiences of sorrow and lack are the results of ignorance and are
unimportant compared with the real experiences. In our earnest attempt to dissolve
these misconceptions, we see that after all temporal experience is like a little shadow
passing across the face of the sun. You and I are coming into the understanding of the
affirmation, God is All. God is His world.
God-Mind is speaking through us. God is working by means of man. Divine Love is
radiating through us. God-Light is the light of the world. There is no darkness in the
Light that is illumining the Universe. We live to serve; true service means cooperating
with God in His activity. Let us be sure that we are true to Life in its highest meaning.
This very moment is the testing time; it is our opportunity to prove ourselves true by
thinking to our highest and by translating our thinking into doing. Remember, it is
living the Life that counts. Are you practicing the Presence? Am I? We know that God
is active in this place as Living Soul; since God is active here, there is no other power
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to interfere with perfect expression this moment; let us not falter. Let us face the
situation whatever it may be, with knowledge that the Father is doing the work. God is
in this place now; hence there is no room for sickness, weakness, sin, lack.
God is in action; hence all is Life. Life is the fulness that filleth all. We live because
God lives. God is living us this moment. It is easy to fall short, if we are living in thelesser conception of life which deals with outer things only, and are basing our
decisions on every day happenings. If a man seems to be walking in darkness, we may
be sure that it is because he is unwilling to see the light. Jesus said, "He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
I read an interesting sermon recently in which the author says that you and I have a
rendezvous with Life and that we must keep our engagement. What does this mean? It
means that we have a rendezvous with Truth, and it lies with you and me to keep our
engagement. We may exist for many years without living at all. "Clinging to
existence, we may, nevertheless, refuse Life." Laziness, fear, prejudices may preventour keeping true to our obligation. We must be alert and vital now in order to give our
best. We miss Life itself through mental indolence. Fear keeps us bound to petty
experiences; we are afraid to rise. Many of us have a pet rut; let us welcome the
mental earthquake that comes and shakes us out of it; but why wait for the
earthquake? I do not wish Life to have to force me out of my limited conceptions; I
must make the effort to rise. Spiritual initiative is necessary to true living.
Life is one with truth, beauty, love, wisdom, power, joy; it is a rendezvous with
goodness, courage, kindness, faithfulness, service, and it is calling you and me to
action. Life is, above all, a rendezvous with God; if we do not keep it, we miss the joy
of living.
What, then, is the origin of Life? Are you ready to answer the question? Infinite
Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding is the origin. Hence we use a capital to
emphasize the Divinity of Life. What is the process? Process is God in action. It is the
working out of the universal plan. Life is all-powerful. It is God. God is not unknown
or unknowable. Hence, there is no mystery; there is only infinite Love and Power in
action; the expression is by law; there is no chance; neither is there secret process.
God is revealed as Life.
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The Mystery of Matter
What is matter? For ages men have asked this question. Philosophers and scientists
have been making earnest endeavors to answer the question satisfactorily, to explain
away the mystery of that which we have called matter. There is always a mystery
associated with what we do not understand--hence, the mystery of matter. It has beena phenomenon that we have not understood. Many scientists and philosophers of all
schools and of all times have touched on the truth of matter, but we as Divine
Scientists believe that there is one great step which must be taken before a satisfactory
answer can be given by any of the thinkers of the world. They must see God in action
as manifestation.
We are moving toward the concept of oneness. This is a most hopeful sign. The belief
of dualism is passing; monism is taking its place. The concept of two powers and two
substances--Spirit and matter, one having control over the other, is evolving into a
greater vision which is revealing a Universe of One Substance. Divine Scientiststranslate the philosophy of monism into terms of religion; our basis is Omnipresence.
We have taken the one great step; instead of seeing the world as a multiplicity of
unrelated phenomena, we are seeing these phenomena in terms of the whole.
The dualistic conception separated the effect from its cause, the manifestation from its
source, creation from the Creator; hence there arose a belief in two powers, Spirit and
matter, good and evil, life and death, sickness and health. Naturally that which was
separate from the perfection of Spirit was thought of as subject to all kinds of ills.
Now we see no separation in any phase of expression. We believe in the continuity of
life, and we know that nothing is ever lost. Although the One Substance is manifested
in myriad forms, the fundamental remains unchanged. Natural science tells us also
that there is nothing lost in this universe of form, and that we are seeing the universal
ether, the one substance, in millions of forms. Is it true, then, that the mysteries of life
are only contradictions in our thinking?
What is called matter, Divine Science looks upon as Substance, or Spirit visible. We
shall in these chapters use the word form instead of matter, not because there is any
objection to calling the Substance involved in form, matter, but because there has
always been connected with the term, matter, a conception that it was something
susceptible to disease, decay, and death.
At the outset let us declare the truth of the Universe; it is God and God in action, as
the Whole. The universe of form and force is creation. Form and force are God in
action, the One Spirit visible. There is no process of separation evident in all the
diversity of universal expression to the one who sees form as Divine Idea being
expressed. The God-Method of thinking infinitude into form, we call the law of
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expression. To us law is God in action. God is ever expressing His Ideas in an infinite
variety of manifestations, for is not God infinite in potentiality?
Omnipresence is our foundation; we shall be building from it always. It is the only
one upon which to base our thinking. If we are true to our Basis, contradictions will
fade out of our thought process, and the old beliefs will begin to scatter like clouds before the sun after a summer rain. To us who use the word divine in relation to the
science of life, the universe of form is God in action, Substance in manifestation,
Infinite Intelligence in expression. The new heaven and the new earth are one;
creation is the outspoken word of God. Is it true that a new universe is revealed to him
who sees God in action in all manifestations?
Through the new understanding that form is not an outline confining a solid entity, but
according to natural science a grouping of self-determining electrons, the natural
scientist is traveling far from the traditional concept of an inanimate universe. There is
nothing that is not living; all is life and activity in the natural scientist’s concept of theuniverse. In the Divine Scientist’s there is nothing which is not perfect by nature,
since all form is God in action, for is not Life, God in action, the universal power? All
activity is by law in both phases of science, natural and divine. There is no chance.
Natural science calls this the law of cause and effect; Divine Science calls it God in
action.
It is vital that you and I get the truth of form firmly fixed in our thought. A new
universe is being revealed by natural science as a unity of Being, expressing by a
unity of law. Divine Science is revealing a Universe that is God and God in action--a
Universe in which there is nothing but God--a Universe which is God and God-Idea in
expression. Form cannot by this concept be susceptible to conditions of inharmony.
All of us who have thought of matter or form as opposed to and unlike Spirit have
been worshiping other gods besides the One. As a result of misconception as to the
nature of form we have thought of our flesh as liable to many ills--sickness, poverty,
sin, death, loneliness. We have, of course, conceived a partial God; a great power, it is
true, but one limited by another power which men have called evil. The concept of
separation is responsible for the misconception, evil, in the thought of men.
There are those who say in regard to this universe of form that all visibility is unreal;
in fact, that it does not exist. This we do not accept. We see the visible as Mind in
action, and we see that like its Source, the visible is perfect by nature. We declare that
right thinking leads to realization of perfection, and that the truth of life is revealed to
the man with the single eye. If thine eye be single, if it sees only the One Presence and
One Power at work in the universe of form, thy body shall be full of health; thy
thought shall be filled with light.
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Since God is omnipresent and includes all as well as being the Creator of all, creation
is by its very nature, whole and good. God sees only wholeness; he is infinitely
conscious of His creation, for is God any less a creator than He was in the days when
the wise man of old said of Him, "And God saw everything that he had made, and
behold, it was very good"? In the Infinite there is no past or future; there is only the
living present--the Now. There is no place for a false creation in a universe of formthat is Infinite Mind in action; there is no false world except in man’s misconception.
Let us clear out our subconscious; a mental house-cleaning is a valuable exercise in
this day and age of the New Revelation.
We are perfect and complete in God; all form is Substance in action. God is
expressing as living form; these living forms, then, are Divine Ideas in manifestation.
Do you see that all life is one? When we are true to Omnipresence, we see that there is
no place, not a dot on earth or in the heavens, the size of a pin point, where God is not.
Substance--God--is everywhere; hence, activity, Substance expressing as form, is the
universe of form and force. Where the Spirit is, and it is in all places at all times, there
is freedom, love, health, power, truth, life, joy.
We no longer dwell on imperfection; we do not think of form as something played
upon or molded by individual mind; we know form as Infinite Substance in activity.
We agree with the natural scientist in his conception of form or matter as a mode of
intelligent motion. We see this motion as God Activity. The vibration of the natural
scientist is the Divine Activity of the Divine Scientist. It is God’s method of
expression.
There are various beliefs about the relation of Mind to its manifestation. Some people
say that if we keep our thinking true the body will respond. There is much danger
attendant upon this conception--the one of giving too much power to what men call
the human mind. Those who believe that everything depends upon their mental power,
naturally become too strenuous in their efforts to bring about the desired conditions,
and employ formulation and suggestion. The method is wrong; it is not based upon
principle, but on opinions. We go through life contending with two powers. Mind and
body become separated in our thinking, and there follows a struggle which
emphasizes the power of the mentality. We think in terms of a material force and of a
spiritual power, and we are placing our faith in both. This kind of thinking gives rise
to a dualistic conception, and to a practice of mental suggestion which is often
harmful. There are times when we seem to experience an absence of God in our lives,
when we allow ourselves to form thought habits of mental and autosuggestion. Divine
Science teaches that the body, a God-Expression, is perfect by the nature of its
Source. We teach the eternal perfection of all manifestation or form. This assertion of
the eternal perfection of form we base upon the fact of the perfection of God, the
Father. Since form is God’s creation, it is not affected by human conception about it.
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The body, as God’s manifestation, can be neither repaired nor impaired by human
effort.
The moment we take our stand in Omnipresence, the One Universal Power and
Presence of perfection, we see everything in terms of its nature; there is only One
Substance to him who sees. He is seeing God in action; God is ever thinking himselfforth as the universe of form according to a pattern in Divine Mind. Perfect Idea is
resting eternally in God-Mind, and is also expressing as visibility. It manifests as
perfect form. The Aristotelian philosophy teaches that the universe is a thought in
God-Mind--God, The Thinker--His Thought, The Universe! Let us be well content in
the assurance that all form is a thought of God, for He that keepeth the world as Idea
in Mind-Universal is living us now; there is no instant of separation. Substance is
Spirit; Spirit in action is Creation; matter or form is Substance or Spirit in action.
The analogy between what we call natural and what we call Divine Science is
heartening. Natural science speaks in terms of varying rates of vibration; DivineScience accounts for the vibration by seeing it as God-Activity. God is expressing, as
the tiniest particle and the mightiest solar system; hence we are conceiving the
immediacy of God as well as the universality. We see God as the Infinite Being who
is including men and all other forms of manifestation in His love. The old human
conception of separation and limitation is truly giving place to the consciousness of
the universality of God in the hearts of men.
Whereas, the word matter has implied inactivity and inertness; in the newer modes of
thought it implies continuous activity; and to the Divine Scientist it is form, God in
manifestation. The rock by the wayside was dead to the thinker of old, but man was
alive. The loveliest flower that grows was thought of as insensitve, and unconscious
of its surroundings, while the animal was supposed to be capable of feeling.
Everything which did not have the sense organs with which men and animals are
equipped was thought to be lacking in the power of consciousness. The thought habit
of separating differing expressions in the world grew in proportions until it
proclaimed dead matter and living substance. Today when we say, I, we include the
whole. All life is one. Body is one with Spirit; it is whole, beautiful, and wonderful in
its mechanism. There is truly one body in Christ. Let us glory in the universe of form
which God is creating, and know that he who loses his limited conception of matter or
form for truth’s sake, shall find all life--forms one. He shall see God in action.
Why do we speak of matter? Why not think and speak only of God? It is through our
understanding of form that there comes release from bondage--the bondage of
sickness and sin. When we see that form is perfect activity, that it is the God-Mind in
manifestation, we are free from world opinions about ourselves and about all other
forms of God-Expression. You see, I am sure, why the mystery of matter has persisted
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so long. It had its inception in a dualistic conception of the universe. We have
emphasized the outer and minimized the inner values for so long that the old
mysteries have quite a hold on our thought today.
The poet says that, if we understand the flower in the crannied wall, we should
understand God and all things. As we come into an understanding of the simplestexpressions, the Universe is revealed as one. We are beginning to see truly--to see
God in action. In a universe in which we can interpret form as Spirit made manifest or
visible, a universe wholly one, there are not two powers or two substances; but there
is Substance and motion. There is only God and God in action. That which we think
of as evil is only the result of our imperfect concept; thought images become very real
to us. Let us be careful which kind of form. What I believe I shall see. Just so long as
we hold a belief in the imperfection of form, we shall see imperfection everywhere.
Let us endeavor to raise our thinking out of the current of personal opinions ever
flowing around us. He that sitteth in the heavens, in the harmony of the realization of
oneness, laughs at appearances. He sees them in their true perspective.
Divine Science teaches eternal progression; there is no final revelation. The Spirit of
Truth is our guide. Natural science begins at the visible and works toward the
invisible, the cause; Divine Science begins with the invisible and works from Cause to
effect, but it sees these as one. Both groups see the unity of the Universe of form and
force. The natural scientist is telling us that the nature of matter is continuous activity;
the Divine Scientist says that this activity is God in action. There is no mystery about
matter to us; God is Creator and Creation. Just as the light of far away stars reaches us
after centuries of traveling through infinitude, unchanged in its constituent elements,
so today the light of the truth of Being that has shone from the universe of form and
force through the ages, uncomprehended by the many, seems to be growing brighter,
because we are beginning to see with the eye of Spirit. The consciousness of
Omnipresence is the light of the world, and the mystery of matter is solved.
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The Mystery of Suffering
Let us be sure that we are gaining a clearer understanding of the term matter as we
consider the pages of this small volume; for without more light on matter, we shall not
come nearer to a solution of the problems that confront us in our daily lives. Of these
that of suffering is one of the most insistent, whether it takes the form of evil or of pain. What is suffering? What is evil? In order to approach a satisfactory answer to
these questions, it is necessary to study carefully the meaning of form or matter.
What has been our concept of form? Something manifesting in limitation, and subject
to inharmony and decay, is perhaps as clear an answer as most of us could give. The
visible has been thought of as that which is separate from the invisible. We have been
dealing with what we conceived to be two phases in the life process--a visible and an
invisible existence, only one of which, the invisible, has been thought of as perfect.
Imperfection has always clung to that which is manifested. Why should this be? Belief
in separation is the answer. Let us make sure that we see form as Living Substance inmanifestation, expressing according to the law of unity in infinite variety. To the one
who sees this truth, the mystery of suffering begins to clear. What is the conclusion
that thinkers in the realm of natural science are moving toward? It is a conclusion that
has already been reached and accepted by Divine Scientists--that the universe of form
is alive--that it is One Universal Intelligence in expression. We say that God is Spirit
and that the universe of form is God in action. As natural science teaches one source
or power, so we teach one Cause in the Universe of Spirit, which is Love Universal.
We have learned that cause and effect are one, hence the expression of perfect cause is
by nature, perfect. Whence the seeming imperfection? What is suffering? What we
believe we experience in regard to our bodies and to all kinds of form. Wrong
believing gives rise to untrue seeing; and imperfect seeing is the cause of that which
we call imperfection. Where, then, shall we look for an answer to the mystery of why
we suffer and why we sin in a universe of form which is God in action? You will see
that we must turn to the thought realm where we have been harbouring
misconceptions as to the nature of form; through thought training we can learn to see
truth.
What shall we think about form? The natural scientist says that all form is vibration;
he accounts for different forms by speaking of these as varying rates of vibration; but
he deals with a universal substance which he calls ether. The discovery that matter is a
mode of motion leads to the truth, that the universe of form is God-Activity. Infinite-
Activity is form. We are told in Genesis that God saw His creation and called it very
good. In the knowledge that time is only a concept in our thinking shall we change
this great truth into the present tense to meet the views of the present day? God sees
His creation and calls it very good. God is true to himself; He sees us and all that He
is expressing, as one with Infinite-Life, hence, as whole. God is not expressing that
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which is unlike himself in nature, since cause and effect are one. What of suffering?
Why do we suffer? Surely not because we are by nature intended to suffer but because
we have been as a race unwilling to consecrate our thinking to the God-Standard.
Picture a world filled with God-Love and every one in it radiating outstreaming
goodwill. Would there be any suffering? Would there be any evil? There could beneither suffering nor evil if all men were thinking true to God-Thought. Wars would
end; greed would go; selfishness would cease; destruction would give place to
constructiveness. We should see only God in action if the world were thinking true
thoughts. It is only in the thought realm that we find suffering and evil, for it is here
that we believe in separation, while the truth of life is oneness. As we think, so do we
experience. Therefore, let us watch our thinking, for it is through the process of true
thinking that we unfold into the consciousness of God and God in action as all there
is. True thinking is the basis of all development; it is the key that unlocks the gates of
the kingdom--the gates that our thoughts have been locking for us through
misconceiving the true meaning of life.
We shall begin to solve the mystery of individual suffering and evils when we believe
with all faith that God is thinking forth His own Ideas as perfect, complete, intelligent
forms. This is the truth of creation. As we make this truth the basis of our thinking
about the universe of form and of all human experiences, darkness, doubt, fear, and all
other human limitations will vanish. Think of the universe of form as a living
organism, by nature perfect, and you will draw the world of form around you, into the
realm of your thought. Natural science tells us that the universe is a living organism
controlled by mind; we believe that the Universe is Mind and Mind in action, and that
every expression is conscious to a degree. Mind is manifesting everywhere; the flower
evidences this; and so does the tiniest insect that crawls, as well as the mightiest solar
system. The mind of the molecule is the God-Mind in manifestation; there is no other
mind. Every cell thinks because it is Mind in expression. Mind, universal cause, is
revealed by every expression in the universe of form. Universal Mind thinks only
truth and wholeness; it is thinking you and me, as it is thinking the solar systems and
the grains of sand. This infinite variety of activity shown forth in myriad forms of
manifestation is all after a pattern in Divine Mind; each form has its part in God’s
mighty design of his activity--the universe of form. The Universe is glorified in God.
What of suffering from the standpoint of Omnipresence? It is purely mental. Pain is
caused by fear; and there is nothing in Universal Mind to fear, for all is perfection. It
is when we believe in another mind and power that our sufferings begin. Get back to
God. Remember the foundation word--oneness. God above all, through all, in all!
You and I must decide as to whether we shall suffer and be sick. The choice is ours.
Our attitude will determine what the effect of that which comes to us shall be. After
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our decision to stand true to Basis is made, we begin to grow in understanding, and
the Universe becomes illumined for us with the light of God. We see that the Infinite
Being is all and includes all. What God is, is wherever you and I are. Why should we
suffer when God is through us and in us? Our own thinking must be at fault! Man, the
spoken word of God, is in reality always divine and whole; consequently, in the real
of him he does not suffer. It is through belief in separation that he suffers. There isonly one God-Expression, and that is good, for God brings forth only that which is
like unto himself. Each form of the infinite variety of God-Expression is inherently
good. Each of us is always being brought forth by the power of His own
consciousness. Expression is eternal; it is always good. We are alive in God. Can God
suffer and be sick? Since the good is eternal, what about evil? Has it any place in the
plan of existence? Could it really exist? Like suffering, evil is in the thought realm.
Tolstoi says, "God is That All, That Infinite All, of which I am conscious of being a
part." Another has said, "God is the totalized consciousness of the whole."
Natural science is fast working out of the concept of a dead material universe tossed
about by various forces, to a universe all force, life, soul, thought. God is not half
dead, but wholly alive; hence the Universe is wholly good. In form, God the Infinite,
is called finite, because infinity is centered and located in the visible expression of
invisibility. The man who is conscious of this intimate relationship between himself
and God is blessed indeed. There is no material universe in the sense of a universe
apart from God.
Our suffering is purely mental; it is induced by belief in another power than the power
of good. As soon as we separate ourselves in the thought realm from the realization of
the eternal and ever present goodness of Life, we suffer. As long as men believe in
two powers, they will suffer. Suffering and sin are the results of wrong thinking. Are
these experiences mysterious? They are only the result of our unwillingness to face
the full import of the law of cause and effect.
The mystery of evil is allied with the mystery of suffering. How can there be evil in a
universe of form that is wholly good? Again I say, evil, like suffering, is in our
thinking. There is no principle of evil, for principle is eternal, and evil is temporal.
Where, then, does it originate? Whither does it go? That which has its inception in a
wrong mental attitude really comes from ignorance and returns to nothing. Evil is a
temporary condition of the mentality which can be banished when we choose to live
aright, for since the power of good is at the foundation of all expression, evil has no
real hold upon the individual. The power of good is the power inherent in the
development of the world; it is all-powerful in civilization. Evil is being overcome by
the setting of a higher thought standard for the race. Jesus overcame evil with good;
this he did by his thinking. His love, deep, true, and steadfast, has touched humanity
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in a way that no other love ever has. We do not overcome evil by denying it with the
lips; we must overcome it as Jesus did, with good.
Nine-tenths of the wrongs and sufferings of the world come from man’s inhumanity to
man. All conditions of evil, such as the sweat shop, unjust labor conditions, all
immoral conditions, could be banished from the face of the earth, if men would turntheir thought to universal love, for the evils of the world would fade away in the light
of good.
There is no evil to the one who lives with the vision of God before him. Evil is the
outer result of a mental condition of fear, ignorance, doubt, unbelief. As fear is the
cause of suffering, so is it the cause of evil. We fix our attention on the dark places
because we fear these; we emphasize darkness instead of light. Our world becomes
peopled with fears, doubts, misgivings, and our birthright of health, peace, power, and
joy seems to desert us. But does it really leave us? No, that cannot be. Since power,
love, health, wisdom, and joy are the truth of us, these cannot really desert us, exceptwhen we turn our thought away from these to false images of sin and suffering; then
we seem to lose our heritage of good for a time. True thinking brings us back to the
good. We are by nature children of righteousness and truth. That evil is not one of the
eternal realities is evidenced by the instability of its nature. Even though there are
numerous world conditions which are obviously evil, such as war, jealousy,
dishonesty, injustice, suspicion, it is also evident that these conditions have no place
in the universal plan. God does not know these. Since God is all, evil must be a
temporary condition without power. Evil always vanishes when you and I take a
strong enough stand in God-Consciousness.
How is it, then, that we continue to believe in the power of evil and suffering in a
Universe which is God and God in action? I believe that men are brought forth,
children in consciousness in order that they may have the opportunity of working out
their own salvation. The intent of the Father for his children is that they shall attain;
hence they are brought forth perfect, divinely capable of unfolding. Great is the
privilege of development! Men are left to make their own decisions, and to exercise
their own free-will as to how and when to attain. God must desire the companionship
of His children, or He would not have created them capable of Divine understanding.
God knows about each one and shares in the development of the individual; every true
thought you and I think is approved of God. Upon our decision to choose God as our
comrade in every experience of life depends our well being. It is the Spirit which
preserves us from all evil.
Ignorance keeps before us pictures of unrealities called evil and suffering, and fear
keeps us bound to these. Knowledge of truth frees us from bondage, and right thinking
makes us free from evil and suffering. These are mysteries only in so far as we give
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them power to shape the lives of individuals. Why do we suffer? Why do we sin? The
same answer suffices for both questions. Our thinking is not true to the foundation
principle of Life; the Universe of form is God in action. God is infinite Love, and in
Love there is only light; there is no mystery.
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The Mystery of Old Age
Why do we get old? If the Law of Life is continuous progression, why do signs of age
appear to us? How shall we account for the decrepitude that seems to accompany the
later years of life? These appear to be mysteries, but there is a solution of any mystery
in the contemplation of the life process from the basis of Omnipresence. Life iseternal progression in the thought of those who are keeping the faith. In the real there
is no stagnation, neither is there retrogression. There is change in the process in the
visible, but nothing is lost. Years are dreaded and feared by many because age, as we
call it, has usually been accompanied by loss of power and joy; we are learning to live
now, however, so that the signs that follow the passing of years are being done away
with.
It is difficult to understand the experience of old age as we see it, unless we consider
for a moment the fixed habit of thought in relation to the burden of time upon men.
The race has thought for ages in terms of time; we have emphasized a past and afuture, instead of a present. Why not live in the eternal present? In it we do not get
old. He who lives in his thought in a living present begins to see the place of what we
call age in the unfoldment of man. I am glad for every year; a birthday is a landmark
in progress, not in deterioration. It is worthwhile to have lived three hundred and
sixty-five days well, my friend. Have you ever thought of your birthdays in this way?
Old age does not mean the burden of years; it means the fruition of a life. Years are
our friends, not our enemies, if we live in harmony with these, and think of them as
opportunities for development. Each day of the year is in itself an opportunity to
realize more of truth; but unwisely we resist the passing of the years instead of
cooperating in spirit with the seeming flight of time. It is human ignorance in relation
to process that makes us old, not the experiences of time in its passing. It is our
attitude toward time that keeps us free from the limitations that the race would burden
us with.
What about the signs of age? These are unnecessary in the world of continuous
progression. There are some of us who are learning to come up over the old thought
habits that made us feel weak and incapable. We are learning to demonstrate. It has
been said that you and I are as old as we feel and act. I believe that we are. Age is a
belief about the body; youth is of the soul; it is the joy of living. Age is the concept of
separation from this very joy of living. I like to feel the dignity of the years, and I am
proud of having lived a good many. Years I count not as the passing of time, but as
opportunities for the gathering of wisdom. The well-spent years are very rich.
A race belief in a material process has dominated our thinking for many years. What
are we going to do about it? Why not begin today to change our attitude toward the
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experience of age? There will never be a better time than now. Some people are
getting old; others are growing old. There is a difference in the results of viewing age
from a material or from a spiritual point of view. Which shall we see--youth and
progress or decline and stagnation? This lies with you and me. Are we watching the
passing of the years and believing that with each one we lose strength, intelligence,
power, joy? Some of us believe so strongly that as we get old certain faculties growweaker and are finally lost. Is this true or do we only think it is? Why are we seeing
decay? The question is easily answered; we are thinking it. Men do not have to go
down hill until their process ends, as we say, in death. To be here and not to live is the
only death there is. If we consecrate our living to development in consciousness, we
shall come into the whole truth about man. The knowledge of all the processes of life
is with man. The belief in disease and old age is a phase of our misconception about
ourselves.
It is difficult to tell just what old age is, even if we feel old. We are told by natural
scientists that the body is in a condition of change, and that no part of it is over a year
old at a given time, unless it be the teeth, which change about every two years. It is
self-evident that age is a mental condition. The world has so long believed in process
with a beginning and an end that we have much to overcome. The question may be
asked, "If disease is a mental condition, why should animals be ill?" It is a case of the
higher influencing the lower; animals respond to the thoughts of men; they do not
originate mental images of imperfection, but they follow ours.
Thought bridges all things. There is neither space nor time that thought cannot
obliterate. There is no age in eternal Being, neither is there youth. There is only one
Source of life and health--God. We are illumined when we recognize our Source. The
cause of all ills is the turning of the thought to an outer source. In the external there
are all kinds of misconceptions; we are self-hypnotized into believing that there is
much wrong with us because we are getting old. We get old resisting the outer. The
only power that the external has is what we give to it. The race has believed in the
decrepitude of old age for centuries; therefore, men have been greatly afflicted with
the burden of years; they have watched for and emphasized the symptoms of
advancing years. We are still yielding to race conceptions.
There is neither youth nor age to the one who knows God as his Life; there is
increasingly powerful living. The use of our faculties should not be affected by the
addition of years. What are years in themselves? How shall we keep young? How
shall we overcome the belief in years? It is all worked from within. The mentality
must be kept active and powerful by identifying it with the one Mind which knows
neither youth nor age. Let us keep alert; inertia is a sign that we are forgetting to keep
close to God. Loss of memory is another one of the ills that we bring upon ourselves
by misconception. Divine Mind never forgets; it never overlooks a blade of grass in
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this Universe of its creating. As we identify with Divine Mind we see that there is no
loss of memory possible, for constant activity is the state of Infinite Mind. Do not
listen to the race belief that because we have lived on this plane of existence for three
score years and ten we must begin to retrograde; there is no truth in it. Listen to the
Life Principle speaking always in terms of Life, Life, Life!
Inertia keeps you out of the kingdom; alertness leads you in, if it is the alertness of
truth in you. Keep alive; stay young; be joyful. Life is ever new; there is nothing old.
Take your part in the progressive life of the race; do not stay behind. Thrill with the
meaning of each new discovery in the world of natural science. Know yourself for
what you are--a child of the living God. Keep close to little children; they love life
and are happy.
There is nothing like the outpouring of love to keep us young. Do not allow the
suggestion of years to enter into your thought about the conduct of life. He who thinks
he can’t run, can’t; and he finds that he is falling behind in more ways than one.Remember that the strong man rejoices to run the race as much as he rejoices in
reaching the goal. Consider your birthdays as days marking progression. Take no
thought for tomorrow. The tomorrows will take care of themselves. Keep the present
rich, vital, alive with God. Live more buoyantly and more abundantly. Forget the race
misconceptions. Do not think that you must wait until you die to know Eternal Life.
Life in its fullness is here now.
Make for yourself a list of the outstanding qualities of eternal youth. Ask yourself,
"Am I learning to apply these qualities more truly with the passing of days? Am I
expressing the inherencies of youth in my thinking and my doing?" Check up! Can
you place a yes beside the following qualities: buoyancy, alertness, vitality,
appreciation, cheerfulness, powerfulness? If you can, you are not getting old.
Is old age mysterious? Wherein lies the mystery? Perhaps there has been a mystery to
those who did not understand that life is eternal progression. We grow old in wisdom,
love, and joy, with the years. That is well. The mystery is solved; it was in your
thought and mine. Life is eternally young; it is ever new. We thought it had an end.
We thought we saw process end in the individual; but that is not true, for process is
universal and eternal. Yielding to the race conceptions we looked old and showed the
results of our thinking in signs of age. We called this a mystery, while it was only the
effect of a cause in our thinking. The mystery of old age is solved; it is the sign that
follows a thought process. Now that the mystery is solved, why not stay young?
" And thine age shal l be clearer than the noonday: thou shal t shine forth ; thou shalt be as the
morning." --Job 11:17.
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The Mystery of Death
Men have been so engrossed in watching process in the visible that they have missed
the vision of the invisible; contemplation of the part has taken the place of meditation
upon the whole. Men have believed that because their comrades passed out of the
radius of the senses that there must be a mystery about their abiding place. "If wecannot see and touch our loved ones in this body which we have always known, where
are they?" This question is asked over and over again. It is easily seen why a mystery
arose around the experience men called death. They have been in bondage to the
world conception of death as the opposite of life.
The New Revelation is changing our conception about many things; best of all we are
coming to know the reality of the seen and the unseen; we are seeing these as one. We
are seeing life and the experience called death according to a clearer vision as we free
ourselves from the bondage of world conceptions and look directly through
appearances into reality. The light of truth is revealing to us that there is only oneexperience of death: this is when men die in sin and in ignorance. Limitation is death,
because it is the opposite of freedom. He who frees himself from these limitations--
sin, sickness, and fear--shall not taste of death. We are coming to see that just as
bondage to wrong belief is death, so is the belief of separation from God. In fact the
man who separates himself from God in his thinking and from his fellow men in his
doing is experiencing one form of death.
A consideration of the experience of death from the standpoint of Divine Science will
bring an answer to the question, "Who are the dead?" The so-called dead are those
who conceive themselves apart from Life--God in action. In this God-Plan of eternal
progression there is no death. The process of life is that of resurrection, continuous
unfoldment. Divine Science sees resurrection as an eternal process; we rise out of
limitation daily. This is living. We rise out of the belief in death or separation into the
realization of unity and cooperation. To rise we must train our thought to see the true
and the beautiful--God in action--instead of the false and the ugly, men’s opinions
from the standpoint of duality.
It is interesting to trace the differing attitudes toward death that have characterized the
expressions of our fellow men. The Christian has faced it as a calamity with fortitude
and resignation, while he has resisted death and mourned it as the worst of evils; for to
him it was synonymous with separation of loved ones and the ending of earthly life,
but it was the will of God.
Has the dread and fear of death, as we call the experience of transition, passed out of
the thinking of those who call themselves followers of New Thought? With many
resistance to the experience still remains; it is considered an evil, because they think it
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is a sign that truth has failed. Divine Science is not willing to admit that the incident in
life that men call death is an evidence that truth has failed. We believe that God does
not know death, for God is Life. What, then, is the origin of the belief that prevails
concerning the experience? It is a condition in your thinking and in mine. Natural
science tells us that death is an acquired habit of the race, and that since men have
taken it on, men must throw it off. Divine Scientists know that there is only one placein which to overcome death; this is in your thinking and in mine. Natural science tells
us that men are potentially able to throw off this acquired habit; we believe that the
race is able to rise out of the misconception that men must die. Wise men have told us
that death is the last enemy to be overcome, and this is a reasonable assertion, for the
race habit of the thought of death is deeply imbedded in our subconscious mind. It
will take consecrated effort to root it out. We all recognize the difficulties attendant
upon weeding our gardens, especially in keeping weeds out even after much effort.
Let us keep our thinking true to the principle of God and God in action as the basis for
our thinking. God and God in action, then, is the Universe. Eternal evolution is the
law of Being. We have within us the power to unfold continuously in the realization
of God-Consciousness. We are alive in God, the eternal Creator expressing as
Creation.
Men resist what they fear; hence, they have resisted death. What is the ground for a
fear of death in the light of the New Revelation? Think for a moment. How can we
fear if we believe that law is God in action, and that this experience called death
comes by law, and is an incident in a living process? In life there can be no cessation
of activity, no instant when God is not. Why fear? In the concept of Omnipresence
there is no place for the absence of life. Fear is a belief in separation; a misconception
that there is life and that there is death. We have thought in terms of activity and
inactivity; whereas there is only one state, God in action.
We have thought of a beginning and an end. Reflect for a moment. We have accepted
Omnipresence--God everywhere--how can there be a beginning and an end in God?
You will agree with me that the limitation is in our thinking, not in the universal plan
of which there is neither beginning nor end. It is only human experience that
conceives death and calls it an ending; in the infinite plan what we call death is only
transition, one of our opportunities for higher development.
We are all seeking truth; those who seek faithfully find. The men of natural science
are hardheaded, patient men working carefully, persistently, accurately, definitely, to
discover more and more of the facts about life. They are careful to make no mistakes;
integrity and accuracy are their standard. We are careful to make no mistakes--our
Basis is eternal truth. As they declare the fact of life everywhere, so we affirm the
truth of their declarations by asserting that God-Life is everywhere. Natural science
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teaches that everything in the universe is active; there is nothing static. The truth of
this statement is affirmed in Divine Science by the declaration--God and God in
action is all there is.
The world as we see it is factual; the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are
facts. Form is a fact; process is evident. The fact is the temporal; truth is the eternal.The fact is the phenomenon, the thing that is evident; the truth is the meaning back of
the phenomenon. We seem to see when we consider only the phenomenon, the
beginning and the end of process. Hence, there arises in the individual a peculiar
dread of the end of things; the end of what we call the world process seems to us vital.
Let us turn the inner eye upon the eternal Process; even though to you and to me there
may seem to be a cessation of the process in the visible, so far as we can see with the
eyes of the senses. Are we learning to think through facts into truth? Is life in the light
of truth made up of phenomena alone, or of the Cause and the phenomenon? There is
an answer to this question in the teaching of Omnipresence; for Life is Omnipresent
Spirit, and process is God-Expression.
We seem to have dwelt upon separation until we have come to think in terms of
duality; this side, meaning the manifest world, the other side, meaning the unmanifest.
It is the unmanifest or the unseen that we persist in veiling in mystery. Humanity has
clung to the visible and the tangible; the factual has held men firmly in its grip. They
have been sure of the visible, so they thought, and correspondingly unsure of the
invisible. The invisible was thought of as that which is coming next, instead of that
which is now. All sadness in relation to the experience we call death passes when we
understand the truth of the universe of form--that everything from the atom to the
solar system is alive in God. All is Life; all Life is God-Life. Where can we go from
Life? We leave Life only in our thinking; and then we think that we are no longer one
with God.
Let us never get away from the truth of an orderly universe of form. Everything comes
by law; and everything that comes in the process of law is progression. The eye of
faith looks straight across the gulf of seeming separation, and see that every
experience is good, and means progress for the individual, and that what we have
called death is only a transition, an evolutionary step. I can almost hear you say,
"What about the sadness of separation from our loved ones in the life of the home?
Why is one whose life is so full of promise taken out of this sphere of action?" When
we are at one with the truth of law as God in action and when we put that which we
know into practice in our daily lives, we shall see that there is no separation, and shall
be able to make practical use of this great truth. Our loved ones are in the One
Presence. Let us turn away from any concept of cessation of activity in relation to the
incident we call death. No experience can retard our development; it is only our
attitude toward the experience that limits us.
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The prodigal son was progressing all of the time that he was in the Far Country; he
was satisfied when he had seen the meaning of husks, to return to his Father’s house.
His journey proved a worthful one, in that it showed to him the glory of that which he
had left. So it is with us; we journey away often, and make mistakes the world calls
evil, but as we begin to live truth, we rise from our dream of sense satisfaction, and go
back in our thought to Spirit. How wonderfully the law works. We find that we havenot really been away at all; we have only conceived separation in our thinking. In
other words out thoughts have been in a Far Country; we have been emphasizing the
part instead of the whole.
How many of us have expected to find our satisfaction in the outer only to discover
that all we wish for is already fulfilled within. Our eyes have been turned in the wrong
direction. We have seen lack and imperfection, and through our misconceptions these
things looked real to us. The experience itself has neither meaning nor effect until we
endow it by our mental attitude, with the power to cause results in our lives.
The question comes to all of us sometime in our lives, “What must I do to be saved
from all of these misconceptions?” We find ourselves getting under conditions of
sickness, lack, fear. We become disheartened; the need seems very great. The
responsibility is still yours and mine. It is left to us to take the step that leads to
salvation. We must clear our vision, and turn our thought within to the true Source of
help; then shall we see life rich and filled with blessings. It will be proved to us that
all process is worth-while and has a deep meaning, if we see Life as a Divine Process.
We are here to develop; let us welcome experiences as means to an end; not as ends in
themselves. We shall not fear the process, when we understand that it is all progress.
Then we shall cease to see experience detached from progression. When we fail to
catch the relation of experience to a progressive plan, it assumes undue proportions,
because we are thinking of what the experience can do to us, instead of what we can
do with the experience.
In the light of the new understanding it is revealed to us that it is unnecessary to go
through a hard experience of suffering and separation which the world calls death in
order to attain freedom from limitation; but if we have not outgrown this conception,
when death comes, we should see that it comes by law when it is best for the
individual. We move from house to house, from city to city, without fear; yes, even
from country to country. In fact, the experience of change is a pleasurable one. Why,
then, should we dread journeying from one plane of activity to another? Life is a
school; when you and I have done the work in one grade satisfactorily, we are
promoted to the next higher; so it is that when we have learned the lessons in one
stage of development in the process of education, we are pronounced worthy of the
next. Promotion in the school of life is eternal. As we progress we are needed
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somewhere else in the eternal plan; and you and I go on when it is best for us as
individuals. The law of progress is perfect at every point.
Sometimes we fall into narrow grooves of thinking and doing; these are called ruts;
and without doubt, retard our development. Ruts offer to us the line of least effort; and
when we become mentally lazy or when we feel that we have reached the final wordof knowledge, and refuse to progress of our own accord, we must be jostled out of the
rut. Blessed is the law that moves us out into greater opportunities for progression.
There are so many questions connected with a discussion of this subject of death that
it is difficult to find the most pertinent; I think, however, that one engrossing question
in the thoughts of those who doubt and of those who believe is: Where do those who
have passed through the experience known as death go? They seem to drop the body;
hence, the world belief has wrapped the departed, as they are called, in a veil of
mystery. Can they function without the tangible body which has seemed to identify
them as individuals here? Think of the little we have learned of the infinite universe ofform around us; the laws of the solar systems are no more difficult to understand than
are the laws of the tiniest flower that grows. There is so much that is still in the
invisible in so far as we are concerned. Our senses register much that is vital in the
universal plan, as it functions, but these also miss much that is wonderful. The
universe of form is active in myriad ways that our senses are unable to comprehend;
however, we see that these phenomena are the results of an infinite Cause. Can we not
see that the Infinite Intelligence which is ever creating the universe of form is
equipped to take care of the individual? Are we trusting it? The law of love is
unfolding you and me into ever greater awareness of truth. Life is continually
enlarging for us, as we live it with understanding.
Do you believe in God? If you do, you must see that death is only a name for an event
in Life Eternal. The law of Life is good; hence, the event is good. When we have
learned how to live, the experience that we speak of as death will not be preceded by
difficulties, suffering, and sadness; we shall simply go on. There is no weakness in the
process of Life; it is only our attitude toward the experience that is wrong. The same
is true of the event known as death; it is our attitude that is wrong. There is without
doubt a possibility of reaching a state of consciousness in which we shall be translated
without pain and sadness. "Enoch walked with God, and was not." Moses, Elijah, and
Jesus all reached the degree of consciousness which has proved to us that death is
only an event in life. Jesus rose from the dead; for to him all was Life; he ascended
over the beliefs in limitations; and he proved to us that he did this through faith in the
law of Life.
Death is no longer to be thought of in the old ways. It does not mean an end or in
itself the way to attainment; for the event of the passing on does not open all
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possibilities to us at once. Law is working; there are no leaps into untried spheres;
there is orderly progression. Heaven is here; it is in our thought, and we need not pass
through the gates of death in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, as the older creeds
taught. As we unfold we rise into the heavenly state, for we are dropping our
limitations of fears and beliefs. There is no other life; there is only Life. The word,
other, must have come into use to meet a need of those who taught the dualisticconcept. It has no meaning in the New Revelation.
There is no joy aside from knowing God. In the greater freedom of the thought of the
one who knows God there is opportunity to develop in ever richer ways. There is no
finality of expression; phases of the Infinite Life to live. The law of love transfers us
from our good. Let us trust it for ourselves and for others. It is our faith that makes us
whole. See Life, not death. Think of the joys of eternal progress, and you will rejoice
in every process. There is Life, Life, Life! There is no death--hence, there can be no
mystery.
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The Mystery of Healing
Mankind has looked upon healing as a bodily process, and there has always been a
sense of the mysterious attached to it. Among primitive peoples there are rites and
medicinal herbs that are thought to hold within themselves the power of restoring men
to health. As you see, faith in something is necessary. While men are believing inthese means of restoration, they are shrouding them in mystery. How we have worked
to take life out of the natura